Erin and I had a great time at Winfield, it was really different this year, but as usual we got to see some very special people and do some fine picking. My favorite band that we saw were Dailey and Vincent...very good harmony vocals and they had some nice instrumental breaks.
Since coming back from Winfield Erin and I have been back to classes. I am really enjoying most of mine. My video technology class is tough, I actually have to STUDY! WOW! I'm getting to take 2 hours of fiddle lessons each week both from Joe Carr and Ed Marsh. I'm learning a lot. IN the evenings we can be found either in our appartment practicing, jamming here or in the music building jamming the night away. Now that is what I call HOMEWORK!
This weekend Erin and I are headed up to Guthrie,OK. Mom and Dad will meet us there for the Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival. Scenic Roots will be performing at the children's tent again this year.
Erin has been feeling a bit under the weather this week, caught a good ol' Texas cold. I'm still battling allergies, I tell you the ragweed grows really well down in these parts.
Erin had her first television debut today with the Pickin' on the Plains ensemble. If it gets up on the web we'll share the link with you so you can hear them play. I'm off to go cook some dinner. We'll see you on down the road.
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( 3.1 / 69 )We're going to Winfield!!! As soon as we finish classes tomorrow, we're hitting the road. It should be about an eight hour drive, putting us in Winfield by midnight. We really can't wait!
For those of you who don't know about Winfield, it is home of the Walnut Valley Festival on the third weekend of September every year. Mom & Dad have been down there since Thursday reserving space for me & Sis, playing music, and hanging out with the other awesome people who are there. There has been some excitement there this year with major flooding in the campgrounds. Everyone moved into the campground on Thursday and then promptly moved out again on Friday when the river started coming up. Everyone was scattered around town for a couple days, then finally settled into two different campgrounds nearby. It will sure be different not to have camping on-site, but the festival will go on and be wonderful no doubt!
Amber & I were reminiscing earlier this week about where we were a year ago. I had my second chemo treatment the Thursday of "Land Rush" (when the campers move in). It was while we were camping there that my hair started falling out by the handfulls... I had to have someone's arm for support when I walked around the campground... I slept through half the festival. This week, I got my hair cut because it was getting to long and shaggy... I go for 1/2 hour walks and carry my instruments across campus... and I can stay awake all day! God is so good! He has brought me through so much in the past year and I can only rejoice!
Classes are going well. Amber and I have pretty well established daily routines. We've been playing music for several hours every evening-- either by ourselves (practicing for our lessons) or with friends (jamming & practicing for our ensembles). We've met some wonderful people around here! We found a church with a bell choir that needed more players, so we are going to jump into that. There is also a Christian student ministry I think we are going to get involved in. Every once in a while we actually have "real" homework too. :)
Life is good. We're going to "fwap our shizoozy" at Winfield starting tomorrow evening! "Fwap your shizoozy" is really meaningless... or I guess you could say it has whatever meaning you'd like it to. Some words are just so fun to say that you have to use them, even if they have no definition! :) That's kind of what Winfield is about-- having fun no matter what.
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( 3.2 / 69 )Amber and I got to see Mark O'Connor on Thursday!!!! We were in the 2nd row!! He did a two-hour solo violin concert and it was amazing. I definitely rank it among the top 10 best concerts I have been to. He played all his own compositions or arrangements, mostly Classical, but with a lot of bluegrass/country/western swing fiddle influence. Some of the pieces were not extremely pleasing to the ear, but they were so technically intricate that you couldn't help but be in awe of his ability. Then other pieces were incredibly beautiful and full of emotion. I sat awe-struck throughout the concert. I start thinking I'm a pretty good musician and then I hear a concert like Mark O'Connor's and I feel like a beginner who needs to go out behind the barn and woodshed for another 50 years! Needless to say, I have been inspired.
I should probably include some other news from the last week, but I had to get that out of my system first!
We have had a very good week. Last weekend, we found a bluegrass jam in Lubbock and hosted one of our own at our apartment. It was a short week of classes without much excitement. Tuesday was kind of a rough day for both of us. We found ourselves slightly bored and frustrated with some of our classes, so we had a good pity party and then found a better attitude about the classes that aren't challenging us. We are finding ways to challenge each other within the classes, even if they aren't challenging in and of themselves. We are determined to make the most out of our time here and learn as much as possible. This is going to be a fun year! One night, we found ourselves in the practice room pounding out harmonies to a song for nearly 2 hours. We were exhausted by the time we got home, but excited about what we accomplished. This weekend, we are taking it easy. Amber is having some sinus trouble-- maybe allergies from the cotton in bloom everywhere. We're hoping that she can get some extra rest this weekend and keep from getting really sick. We have a jam at one of our teachers' house tonight; church, grocery shopping for the week, and a small ensemble practice tomorrow; and then it will be time for classes again.
God bless you. Thanks for your prayers and support as we follow our dreams!
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( 3 / 64 )Classes started Monday here at South Plains College. So far, Amber & I are loving school! We have all music classes and we are having a ton of fun. This week has been kind of crazy in the Creative Arts department, with ensemble auditions, re-arranging class schedules, and scheduling private lessons. One of my classes was cancelled because there weren't enough students, but that enabled me to join the Pickin' On The Plains bluegrass audition ensemble.
My classes:
Masters of Bluegrass
Performance & Promotion
Modern Performance Technique
Pickin' On the Plains Ensemble
Bluegrass Ensemble
Celtic Ensemble
Private Dulcimer Lessons x2
Private Piano Lesson
Amber's classes:
Masters of Bluegrass
Video Production Technology
Modern Performance Technique
Ear-training & Sight-singing
Bluegrass Ensemble
Celtic Ensemble
Private Fiddle Lessons x2
Private Piano Lesson
And they call this school!!!
My favorite class so far is Performance & Promotion. We've talked about a lot of issues facing professional performing musicians and how to promote yourself. The teacher is a professional musician plus has a business degree. Amber's favorite class so far is her fiddle lessons. Her teachers are really challenging her and making her practice.We got our first gig here today. On Saturday, we'll be playing for a lady's 106th birthday party at a local nursing home. We have to call tomorrow to confirm the details, but it's pretty exciting to have a real gig!
We have also been making it a priority to do something fun and silly everyday. One day we played frisbee, one day we walked to the pond, last night I baked carob cupcakes, & tonight we drew with sidewalk chalk in front of our door. Amber posted a picture of our fine artwork, so check it out.
Thanks for keeping up with us and praying for us this week. I had a rough day yesterday; I only ended up having one class because of the re-arranging and I got rather bored. We were also concerned about what we would do with our long Labor-day weekend, but we have found some fun things to do in the area. Plains, TX has a Watermelon Festival on Saturday, so I think we will go there after we play at the nursing home. Then we're going to have a "chip, dip, & music party" here at our apartment on Monday afternoon. With church on Sunday, house-keeping, laundry, and shopping for next week's groceries, we should stay busy all weekend.
~Enjoy Life~
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( 2.9 / 58 )We're here! We're finally in Levelland, Texas at South Plains College. Our long-awaited dream is finally coming true!
We started out on Monday evening after Mom & Dad got off work and drove to our cousin's house in Modoc to spend the night. Tuesday we got up early for the remaining 7 hour drive to Levelland. We got checked into our apartment and started moving boxes in right away.
We spent Wednesday running errands around town with Mom & Dad. We got some furniture at Goodwill, met with Debbie and all of the music faculty, got a local checking account, spent a wad of cash on furnishings, and cooked our first meal in our own kitchen. It was a big, busy day, but so productive and wonderful. Everyone at the music department seemed truly excited to see us. Amber first visited SPC almost 2 years ago, and we had both decided to come by the spring of '07, so they've been expecting us here for a while. We're excited for classes to actually start on Monday!
Mom & Dad left early yesterday morning, so we've been on our own for TWO days now! We all cried when they left, but we've been doing okay. We all know that this is where we are supposed to be, but it is hard to have our family split up. Yesterday afternoon, Amber & I went and played for Beth, the banjo & bluegrass teacher here. I will be taking a 1/2 hr. lesson from her each week. We ended up playing and talking with her for almost 2 hours. She was very encouraging, and helped us find some good resources in the Levelland/Lubbock area. After meeting with her, we drove to Lubbock to finish up our apartment shopping. We found a really neat shop called "World Market" that will probably become our favorite place to shop-- they had all sorts of stuff from all around the world. We got some fun food to try this week.
Today was long. There isn't much going on around campus yet, so things are really quiet. We did some craft projects to spruce up our room. Amber is posting pictures, so be sure to check out the Picture page! This evening, we found some other commercial music majors and jammed for a couple hours. They were playing all kinds of different stuff-- acoustic rock, country, folk-- and we got them to do a couple old-time songs with us.
We don't have many plans for the weekend and our roommates aren't around. Maybe we'll learn some new tunes and finish up cleaning/decorating our apartment. We're planning to visit the Farmer's Market in the morning, and maybe check out some yard sales. Then we're going to bake an apple pie and share it with our Apartment Director, Miss Helen. Sunday we'll find a church to visit.
Here's our new contact info if you feel like writing/calling:
Erin & Amber Rogers
1401 S. College Ave.
Smallwood Apt. 101
Levelland, TX 79336
806-897-5245
Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for your prayer support as we start this new adventure! God bless!
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( 2.9 / 58 )
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